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Orth reviews 'Religion in Politics: Constitutional and Moral Perspectives' by Michael J. Perry.

In a comment on Richard F. Tomasson's 1980 book about Iceland, the American sociologist Seymour Martin Lipset notes that Tomasson 'traces the ways in which Icelandic culture developed out of the medieval pre-Christian society – in its language, relations between the sexes, egalitarianism and the high frequency of illegitimate births. He also points out the areas of contradictions and discontinuity, noting that Iceland has been transformed in the twentieth century by modernization of the society and international influences upon the culture.' The purpose of this essay is to give a more in-depth analysis of some of Tomasson's observations with regard to the status and role of religion in this society. Iceland appears to be a very secular society, but up to very recent times, the national church had a strong position in Icelandic society, and its participation in the life-rituals of families, in national festivals, and in local rituals and festivities has been considered self-evident by the authorities and a large majority of the people. A very homogeneous culture and strong nationalism have a role here to play, but there were also seeds of individualism and pragmatism which may have led the way to differentiation and secularization. Secularization and modernization went hand in hand with the national liberation movement, but nevertheless the national church also made a major contribution to the nation-state building process. It would seem that the Icelanders have throughout their history been more political than religious – and often they seem to have been tolerant in religious and moral issues but fundamentalists in political matters. At least it seems profitable to analyse the reli- gious history of Iceland – the conversion of Iceland at the Alþingi in the summer of 1000; the Reformation in the mid-16th century, and the rapid process of modernization in Iceland – in the context of the political history. Foreigners have often wondered about the liberal attitude of Icelanders in relation to premarital sex, and often they ask why spiritualism and belief in elves and hidden people seem to have survived modernization and secularization. Other possible paradoxes include the very recent appearance of non-Christian religions, such as the Asa faith (which is supposed to revive the pre-Christian religion in Iceland), Islam and Buddhism. And how are we to understand the general support, even among the clergy, for same-sex marriages? In my essay I will try to contextualize these and related questions into an overall picture of the religious history of the Icelandic people.

Interpreting human ideal and religious world in global social context, author analyzing in details relations between terrorism and mass media, models of their counections in context of concrete social-historical changes. Because of mutual, subtle and fl exible interaction originates from publicity hanger, dramatically growing public interest for seductive pictures and reporter's presentations, which changing conceptual and structural religious complex, behavior and believes. Like a chameleon, terrorism is changing along with social environment, provoking impact between religions. Consequence of this impact is constant change of political, economical and cultural relations. All of that creating "time of controlled confl icts", by some theoreticians called also the "third world war", which lead to unexpected and eruptive processes, creаting chaos as state or mind.

"Explores history and development of Umbanda from its beginnings in Rio de Janeiro during 1920s to late 1970s. Describes changes in ritual forms, geographic distribution, and increase in followers as Umbanda was transformed from marginal to a widely accepted religion"--Handbook of Latin American Studies, v. 57

AbstractCivil religion has been described as the "common elements of religious orientation that the great majority of Americans share". In an age of partisan division, there have been calls for a revitalized civil religion, but the idea that civil religion can be unifying has been debated. In this paper, we investigate whether civil religion can be unifying, or is it fractured by partisanship? To address this, we use two strategies. First, we created a civil religion battery and deployed it on two different cross-sectional surveys. The results indicate that there are two dimensions to civil religion. These dimensions are distinct from Christian nationalism and structured along partisan lines. Second, we developed two survey experiments to understand the dimensions of civil religion and improve on the causal mechanisms that link civil religion to political behavior. Results indicate that, rather than promoting unity, civil religion is interpreted through partisan lenses.

Religion and Politics: New Developments Worldwide features ten articles about recent developments in the interaction of Religion and Politics in various countries of Asia, Africa, Europe, and both North and South America. Most articles focus on one country, and including China, South Korea, India, Nigeria, Malaysia, France, and Cuba. Others address issues across regions such as Latin America, Southeast Asia, or the Middle East. The fifteen contributors are scholars from diverse disciplines as well as diverse regions of Asia, Europe, Africa, and the Americas. Subjects include the Indian government's favoritism for Hinduism over rival religions; the way the Sikhs of India avoid the religion–politics divide; the way the Western media fails to fully understand the Chinese government's policies on religious minorities; the aftermath of the Charlie Hebdo demonstrations in France; religious attitudes toward tax politics in South Korea as well as among Christians compared to Muslims; how to lessen the radicalization of Muslims in Southeast Asia; whether Nigeria should encourage its Muslims to be active in the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation; the spiritual role played by the permaculture movement in Cuba; and how the former tendency of scholars to polarize religion and politics is no longer viable, especially in Latin America.

Heilke reviews 'Religion in Politics: Constitutional and Moral Perspectives' by Michael J. Perry.